Roma-143
| Roma-143 | |
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| Biographical information | |
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Born: |
c. 2511 |
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Died: |
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| Personal details | |
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Species: |
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Gender: |
Female |
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Hair color: |
Blonde |
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Eye color: |
Brown |
| Political and military information | |
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Affiliation: |
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Rank: |
Petty Officer Second Class (Upon graduating SPARTAN-II training)[1] |
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S-143 | |
Roma-143 was a SPARTAN-II supersoldier of the UNSC Naval Special Warfare Command serving the Office of Naval Intelligence. She was Black Team's intelligence specialist and was designated as Black-Two.[2]
BiographyEdit
Early life and trainingEdit
Roma was a genetically, intellectually, and physically gifted child chosen for the SPARTAN-II project. She was abducted by the Office of Naval Intelligence and replaced with a flash clone when she was around six years old. She and seventy-four other children were taken to Reach in the Epsilon Eridani system. There, she was trained by the "dumb" AI, Déjà and Chief Petty Officer Franklin Mendez, with the two serving as the Spartans' teacher and drill instructor, respectively. Roma was placed on Black Team along with Otto-031, Margaret-053, and Victor-101. In 2519, she was taken alongside her fellow trainees to a Military Wilderness Training Preserve for a mission that required each trainee to be left alone in the woods with a only a single piece of a map. It was up to them to find one another so that they could piece the map together and locate the designated extraction point. The mission was ultimately a success. At another point during training, Roma and the others traveled to Emerald Cove for an underwater mission. There, they abandoned Mendez and lived on their own on an island for a few days. By July 14, 2523, Roma and her fellow Spartan-IIs had begun facing the formidable and ruthless UNSC Marine Corps' Tango Company in simulated war games.
On March 9, 2525, Roma and the rest of the Spartan-II candidates underwent their augmentation procedures at Medical Facility Endurance orbiting Reach.[3] Roma and the other members of Black Team washed-out, their bodies initially rejecting the augmentations. They were presumably retrained and successfully re-augmented along with some of the other washouts. Following this, Black Team was recruited by the Office of Naval Intelligence for operations that were strictly off the record.[4]
Human-Covenant WarEdit
After the onset of the Human-Covenant War, Roma and Black Team conducted numerous operations against the Covenant. At one point, they were successful in destroying a citadel of some kind that was of importance to the Covenant[5] and at another time they blew a hole in a Covenant cruiser.[6] Another mission for ONI saw Black Team sent to Mamore.[4]
Raid on VergeEdit
- Main article: Raid on Verge
In mid-2552, they were sent to destroy a Covenant beacon on the Covenant-occupied colony of Verge. After landing, the team made their way past fortified anti-aircraft emplacements to the city of Ciudad de Arias, where the Beacon was situated. In one of the city's skyscrapers, they assessed the Beacon's defenses, observing a large swarm of Yanme'e, overseen by Kig-Yar guards and some Mgalekgolo. Roma was then ordered to find a safe room for them to get some rest. In one of the rooms, she found an injured, apparently non-hostile Yanme'e, whom she nicknamed "Hopalong". The Drone, through a translator device, revealed an alternate, hidden route to the Beacon. While Margaret and the rest of the team were suspicious, they decided to trust the Yanme'e.
In the next morning, the team proceeded to move to the Beacon through the tunnels, intending to plant C-12 explosives on each of the Beacon's four anti-gravity pylons. The Spartans eventually reached a large cavern near the Beacon and parted ways. After a ten-minute countdown was up, One ordered the rest of the team to place the charges on the pylons. Meanwhile, Hopalong had acquired a Covenant computer device which it used to free the rest of the Yanme'e. It was then revealed that the Spartans had been tricked: the Drones, who now started attacking everyone, were not slaves, but "Unmutuals", prisoners incapable of normal socialization with the rest of their kind. After being engaged by two Mgalekgolo and a massive Drone swarm, Two planted the charge on the pylon and begun her escape back to the rally point.
On her way, she discovered an intact underground train, which they could use to escape. After telling Margaret, they decided to head to the train. However, Black-Three was not responding One's calls and Two decided to go rescue him, despite One's orders to leave him. After locating an injured Three, Two carried him over her shoulder and sprinted through the city's ruins, now crawling with freed Yanme'e, to the train where One and Four were already waiting. Before escaping, she detonated the charge she had placed on the pylon, brining the Beacon down. They got onboard the train and escaped as the tunnels collapsed under the beacon, and headed to a Pelican dropship for exfiltration.[7]
Line Installation 1-4Edit
- Main article: Battle of Line Installation 1-4
Some time after the mission on Verge, Team Black was to embark on a covert mission to infiltrate a Covenant vessel. When their ship crash-landed on an unnamed moon, Roma stayed behind to drop a Slipbeacon to Fleet Command while the rest of the team went to scout the area.[8] After Two was finished, she moved out into the Line Installation. While she was inside the structure looking for her teammates, 686 Ebullient Prism took control the HUDs of the team's MJOLNIR armors to deceive them and to pit them against each other. After Prism led Two to a Beam Rifle, Two found her way to a ledge where she spotted Otto-031, who appeared on her helmet display as a Hunter. Two opened fire on him, oblivious of the fact her HUD was being manipulated.[9] In turn, Black-Four saw Roma as Thon 'Talamee and shot her in the head, injuring her.[10] Knocked unconscious, Roma awoke some time later as the wound was healed by Biofoam. After waking up, she made her way into the Installation's command center, where she helped the rest of the team destroy 686 Ebullient Prism. After being severely damaged, the monitor was destroyed as it flew into the Installation's main weapon just as it fired at an incoming Covenant fleet. The fleet crashed on the moon, and Team Black moved back to the surface in order to find a serviceable vessel they could commandeer to escape. Outside, they faced a massive Covenant ground force.[11] The Spartans survived the resulting skirmish and eventually returned to UNSC territory.[12]
Installation 03Edit
By late July 2557, Roma-143 and the rest of Black Team had been reassigned to serve as an escort for a UNSC science team in a desert on the surface of Installation 03. On July 25, shortly after the Ur-Didact's attack on the nearby Ivanoff Station, the Spartans were patrolling the vicinity of the scientists' camp when they noticed a series of incoming slipspace signatures. One of the objects crashed nearby, prompting Black to investigate. The Spartans made their way to the impact crater and discovered an unconscious Ur-Didact, who had been knocked into a slipspace rupture by John-117 during the New Phoenix Incident. Unaware of who the Didact was, Team Black speculated the arriving objects to be an invasion force, though one member questioned the efficacy of the invaders given the unresponsive state of the figure before them. However, the Didact suddenly awoke. Furious at the Spartans' presence, the Didact savagely killed Roma and the rest of Team Black along with the nearby scientists.[13]
The following day, Blue Team arrived at Gamma Halo, having been deployed to investigate the disturbance by Admiral Terrence Hood. The Spartans of Blue Team found Roma and the rest of Team Black dead and were attacked by Promethean constructs shortly after.[14]
Personality and traitsEdit
Roma had a characteristic light-hearted sense of humor and she appeared to be the most open-minded member of Team Black, as demonstrated by her decision to attempt communicating with a Yanme'e instead of outright killing it. This may, however, have been linked to her inquisitive and curious nature, which may have been a contributing factor to her role in the team. Roma was fiercely loyal to her teammates and would refuse to leave one of them behind on Verge, despite direct orders.[15]
She was visually distinguished by the Roman numeral "II" on her visor.[7][8][16]
She was assigned to Team Black, and trained with the other teams such as the Red Team.[16]
GalleryEdit
Team Black training against Red Team with paint pellet guns.
Black Team in the cargo hold of the Long Time Coming.
Black Team discovering the unconscious Ur-Didact on Installation 03.
Roma's and the rest of Team Black's corpses are found by Blue Team.
List of appearancesEdit
SourcesEdit
- ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, p. 99 (2001)
- ^ Halo Waypoint, Catalog Interaction - Page 9 (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2020) [archive]
- ^ Halo: The Fall of Reach, chapter 6
- ^ a b Halo Encyclopedia (2022 edition), page 69
- ^ Halo: Blood Line, "Issue 5"
- ^ Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, "Blunt Instruments", p. 202
- ^ a b Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, "Blunt Instruments"
- ^ a b Halo: Blood Line, Issue 1
- ^ Halo: Blood Line, Issue 4
- ^ Halo: Blood Line, Issue 3
- ^ Halo: Blood Line, Issue 5
- ^ Halo Waypoint, Catalog Interaction - Page 6 (Retrieved on Jun 1, 2020) [archive]
- ^ Halo: Escalation, Issue 9
- ^ Halo: Escalation, Issue 8
- ^ Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, "Blunt Instruments", p. 216
- ^ a b Halo: Blood Line, Issue 2
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